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Out of the many recipes in my ever growing 'to try' list, the one that had been calling my name lately was the beef rendang.
Beef rendang
is an Indonesian dish that is basically beef braised in coconut milk and spices. I enjoy braising meat and I just had to try braising with coconut milk. I was not sure what cut of beef I would get when I went to the butchers; I just knew that I wanted something that was nicely marbled so that it would become tender and full of flavour. I ended up getting some short ribs that were inexpensive and looked nicely marbled. I had not used short ribs before but they looked like they would work nicely in the rendang. The beef rendang was pretty easy to make though it did require several hours of braising so it is probably best for weekends. While the beef was cooking my place was filled with the amazing aroma of coconut and the spices. By the time the beef was done braising it had absorbed all of the flavours from the spices and it was really tasty! The short ribs had braised well and the meat was nice and moist and literaly falling apart tender. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the coconut and spices worked in this savoury beef dish. I served the beef rendang simply on rice with some toasted coconut.

Beef Rendang

Servings: 4

ingredients

5 shallots

1 inch galangal

1 inch ginger

3 lemongrass (white part only)

5 cloves garlic

10 dried chilies (soaked in warm water)

2 tablespoons oil

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves

3 star anise

3 cardamom pods

1 pound beef (cut into bite sized cubes)

1 lemongrass (white part only, pounded)

1 cup thick coconut milk

1 cup water

1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate

6 kaffir lime leaves (sliced)

6 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes (toasted)

1 tablespoon palm sugar (or sugar)

salt to taste

directions

Process the shallots, galangal, ginger, lemongrass, garlic and chilies in a food processor.

ah, I always zoom into dishes like this whenever I see it served at buffets! Sadly, more often than not, it ends up dry and tough. But braising it for hours at home will definitely eliminate this possibility! Thanks for sharing the recipe Kevin! I hope to get to this soon!

I love beef rendang... Thanks for the inspiration... i think I'll have to make this for dinner this weekend. And if you can believe it, I have all the ingredients (except the beef) in my pantry. Better yet, I have some of that fabulous Vietnamese Cinnamon that White on Rice Couple was waxing on about.

I've never heard of Beef Rendang but it sounds fantastic! I love short ribs and am always looking for different recipes for them. I can't even imagine how good they must be with coconut milk. This is a definite must try!

I love Beef Rendang. I tried making it once, but I think the quality of the meat was lacking so I ended up not enjoying it as much as I should have but freaked out about the flavour. This sure is a classic!

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.